Tuesday, 28 August 2012

Frustrated by the unrelenting activities of pirates creaming off handsome rewards from movies without breaking sweat, Nollywood moviemakers may took the matter to a head last week. Coalition of Nollywood Guilds and Associations (CONGA) took their case to Lagos Police Commissioner, Prince Umar Manko in his Ikeja, GRA office, Lagos. Led by its president, Mr. Bond Emeruwa, CONGA told the commissioner to use his good offices to stem the unabating tide of piracy and “move thisfledgeling industry forward”.

Emeruwa charged the police chief to rouse his command to “set up a special unit to handle piracy through raids and other effective means” as a means of fighting the piracy cankerworm. He also identified Alaba International Market as “the headquarters of this criminal act”.

Emeruwa, who visited in company of his colleagues in a meeting facilitated by the president, Guild of Movie Journalists, Mr. Sunny Okim, stated, “Top on the list of challenges is piracy. Some elements are out there to reap where they did not sow and this is against the law of the state. We want to say that all multiple films in DVD are pirated works. We have identified the headquarters of this criminal act to be the Alaba International Market. We know the culprits; we have apprehended them several times but they have often slipped away because we lack the power of enforcement of the existing laws against piracy. Recently, we reported some of these enemies of progress to the police at Panti Street but when they later showed up with a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), it became a different story altogether”.

Emeruwa also solicited the assistance of the police high command to assist the film industry with props while acting as advisers on set as ways of fostering better image of the force in films.

On his part, Manko thanked the moviemakers for the visit and acknowledged that Nollywood had registered its name in the country and so deserved every assistance possible. He said apart from giving jobs to young Nigerians to take them off crime and contributing to the economy, the film industry was making people happy.

Manko stated, “Piracy is evil in nature. You use your talent and resources and somebody reaps where he didn’t sow. It’s a complete act of immorality. You have told us where they are; we have the responsibility to use your intelligence squarely. It’s unfortunate you’re indicting one of our ogas (a retired AIG); no police of his rank will want to get involved in aiding criminals. We’ll check the activities of our men in our locations.Importantly, we may make piracy subject of lecture to sensitise our men”.

Emeruwa then presented the police chief with originalDVDs with single films as gifts and the pirated DVDs with multiple films as well to acquaint him with the difference.

PERHAPS the most radical outcome of the NB/Farafina Trust’s Creative Writers Workshop that came to a close last Friday was Kenyan writer’s proposition of a literary community and friendship as a means of broadening the literary space. It had arisen from a conversation one of the facilitators,BinyavangaWainaina (author of One day I Will Write about this Place), had with workshop coordinator, ChimamandaAdichie. Adichie had amplified it at the closing conversation with the three facilitators (the others being Rob Spillmanand Jeff Allen from U.S).

Wainaina had affirmed that it was important that writers formed communities of two or more people to support each other in the creative process. He noted that the importance of literary friendship was to make writing breathe in any given country. He charged the workshop participants to use the opportunity wisely, saying that the current generation had unbelievable opportunities, which he said did not reside in oil and gas but the need to be committed to writing fully.

Spillman also agreed, saying writing transcended boundaries and impregnable borders and that only through writing communities could writing and the messages embedded in writing spread to a wider audience. Allen recounted how contact with other writers like Adichie came about through such writing community when he previously traveled to Kenya for a workshop.

Also, the ever-persistent question of how to stimulate interest in reading also came up for the four accomplished writers. Wainaina put it down to failure of many educational systems, where emphasis was not on reading for the pleasure of fun of it but only for examination purposes. He also blamed poor politicking for the reading woe, saying, “Something has been stolen from us, something political and spiritual. Somebody has stolen something from us”, and stressed the need to regain whatever it was that has been stolen from the populace to correct the anomaly.

While agreeing with Wainaina on the educational front, Adichie would not be so persimistic about itbut said although some sort of reading was going on, she wasn’t sure the sort of things being read. “I’m not persimistic”, she said. “I think that people are reading more today than 10 years ago. Social media really good but time spent in them should be spent reading. Like Binyavanga said, the educational system has failed. People read but what are they reading? Literature is important; it’s about having fun, learning, and thinking deep. Do parents read themselves to encourage their children to read? It’s okay for all of us to bemoan lack of reading but we must start reading.”

On what constitute the African story,Adichie discounted such a thing as African story, saying a story should have sufficient human elements of the good and bad, including the dreams, hopes and aspirations of human beings fully expressed. She further noted that the story should be less about the subject as how it is done to realise that person as a full human being. Spillmansaid the story should be about the human person, and added, “I don’t read to have preconceptions reinforced. I ask for the stories behind the headlines”. Allen said writers were always obligated to the truth about the story. And, such truth, Adichie added, was “important as writing required emotional truth and honesty, ability to offend”, when necessary.

Allen expressed the view that Nigerians have abundant energy, drive and ambition, saying, “I really had a fantastic time” although he had to visit the Nigerian Embassy in New York five times to get a visa. Spillman commented on the energy he noticed, adding, “I love the energy and the creativity everywhere, although slightly dysfunctional. You wonder how these things work, but they do work”.

Wainaina, who has been part of the workshop since inception, said, “Every time I come renewed. There are a few places I’ve been where there is a battle between good and evil but the good is winning. There’s something extremely powerful about here (Nigeria)”.

EARLIER,Farafina CEO, Muktarbakare said the 20 participants for fourth edition of the workshop were drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Cameroun, U.K. and the U.S. thus making it the most broad-based workshop so far. He said the workshop was giving opportunities for aspiring writers to find their own voices in their craft. He expressed his optimism about the future of creative writing in Africa with the quality of writers the workshop was training. He expressed gratitude to Nigeria Breweries Plc for the support, saying the company was acting in the true sense of culture patrons all over the world in supporting creativity.

On his part, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr.NicolaasVervelde, said, “It is always a great pleasure for me to be part of this gathering of distinguished men and women of letters… Four years ago, Nigerian Breweries began a partnership with Farafina Trust to sponsor the Creative Writers Workshop. It is a partnership founded on our desire to encourage the development of literary writing skills in Nigeria as part of our strategic corporate initiatives towards talent development and youth empowerment. Nigerian Breweries remains at the forefront of providing this kind of enduring platforms to nurture Nigeria’s abundant talents”.

To spice up the evening was songstress, OnyakaOnwenu, who pelted the literary audience with melodies from her evergreen repertoire. And they danced and sang along with her inside the Grand Ballroom of Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.

The Kenyan writer,
Binyavanga Wainaina is the author of the memoir, One Day I Will Write About
This Place. He teaches creative writing and is the director of the Chinua
Achebe Centre for African Literature and Languages at Bard College in the U.S.
He was in Lagos recently to help teach fiction to young writers from all over
Africa in the NB/Farafina Trust Creative Writers Workshop, which ended with a
literary event at the Grand Ballroom of Eko Hotel and Suites. He took time to
speak with ANOTE AJELUOROU on some issues regarding literary engagement on the
continent. Excerpts:

What is the state of
writing in Kenya at the moment?

I think these are the most exciting times since the 1990s.
There’s a lot of new, independent publishing going on; online writing is very
vibrant, dynamic and fast-changing. A lot of writers are now writing poetry,
writing fiction, writing for TV and films and a lot of things. There are online
publishers like Kwani? and many
others going on.

How has your memoir, One
Day I Will Write About This Place been
received in Kenya?

Good! I think we sold close to 500 copies the first day at
the launch. It has actually been wonderful; I’m very, very happy. I can’t be
happier.

Tell us something about
your directorship at the Chinua Achebe Centre for African Literature and
Languages at Bard College,U.S.?

It’s wonderful. We’re in the middle of a project called Pilgrimages, where we’re taking 13 African writers to 13 cities
to write 13 books. It’s going to come in a series in a couple of years. I’ll be
writing about Accra, Ghana; so many different writers are writing about other
cities. The idea came from the African World Cup that was held in South Africa
in 2010; we just want to celebrate our cities and for Africans to be able to
say, ‘I know my place’, especially when we meet in a place like London or
Paris.

We can cay that the books are compatriots as they explain
these cities both to those who reside in them and others coming to them.

Ngugu wa Thiong’o is the
most prominent writer to have come out of Kenya. What is your relationship with
him?

Oh, lovely, lovely! Oh gosh; I’m mean, I became an Ngugu fan
very early. I can’t even begin to explain how much he has affected me. You
can’t imagine how very profound his influence on me is. And, his works tower
very high, and continues to dominate.

And you are from a
minority tribe…

No, no; I’m
Kikuyu, too, like Ngugu. But Kikuyu is not a majority either. You can’t even
plan down one agenda along clan lines in Kenya; there are different clans, of
course. The numbers are there, but not a majority.

In your book, you talked
about the violence that erupted in the last election. How much has Kenyans
learnt from that horrific experience?

On the question of the violence that happened in Kenya, we
hope that it is something that will not happen again. It shook us from our
complete complacency. It’s sad that such experience happens often in Africa.
The issue is that there’s a lot of bad politics and corruption and laxity in
the polity, especially among the political elite in Africa. The violence raised
the stakes for us. So, it was bad, but it was good for us in the long run.

So, it will make us to grow stronger and help us to learn to
accommodate one another in the future.

Most of the literary
voices on the African continent are coming from outside the continent. Writers
like you, Chimamanda Adichie and many others reside abroad. Is this a good
development?

The thing is that people make a mistake because they don’t
know where you are. I think Chimamanda resides more here in Nigeria; I spend
most of my time in Kenya; in fact, six months of the year and I travel all over
the continent. We come back a lot; I retain my Kenyan passport; I don’t have a
Green Card. I don’t have an American passport. We propagate African literature
wherever we are, in Africa and wherever.

What has happened is that many people are returning and
finding their way and are giving back. And what is more important; let’s not
talk about the writers that are out there. There is an exciting new generation
of writers that have come out of Africa in the last few years, who are
homegrown talents that are going international.

So, what’s next after One
Day I Will Write About This Place?

I don’t now; it could be anything, maybe science fiction.
I’ll surprise you. Science fiction because I like to try new things; I love
doing new things. So, look out!

IN January 2007, Wainaina was nominated by the World Economic Forum as a "Young
Global Leader" -
an award given to people for "their potential to contribute to shaping the
future of the world." He subsequently declined the award. In his rejection
letter, he wrote: "I assume that most, like me, are tempted to go anyway
because we will get to be 'validated' and glow with the kind of
self-congratulation that can only be bestowed by very globally visible and
significant people, and we are also tempted to go and talk to spectacularly
bright and accomplished people – our 'peers'. We will achieve Global
Institutional Credibility for our work, as we have been anointed by an
institution that many countries and presidents bow down to.

“The problem here is that I am a writer. And although, like
many, I go to sleep at night fantasizing about fame, fortune and credibility,
the thing that is most valuable in my trade is to try, all the time, to keep
myself loose, independent and creative...it would be an act of great
fraudulence for me to accept the trite idea that I am 'going to significantly
impact world affairs”.

Apparently not happy with
developments in Africa, especially with its under-development status in spite
of huge material and human resources, Rome, Italy-based Nigerian novelist, Dr.
Ikenna Kaius Ikejezie, is propounding a new, alternative political vision that
could well place service above anything else so as to lift Africa from its
parlous status. In what he calls Servicracy, Ikejezie in his novel The Learned laments the continent’s woeful development strides
and calls for a rethink.

With a strong desire to return from the Diaspora and be part
of the building process at home, Ikejezie gave vent to his unhappiness at the
launch of his book last Saturday at the MUSON Centre, Lagos. He noted that
democracy had failed to deliver on the continent, especially Nigeria with
injustices easily noticeable in power equation across the country. He argued
that only a reworking of the balance of power to reflect a genuine desire to
serve the people better would bring genuine harmony amongst the people.

On his final return back home, he said he would write two
novels a year with themes that would address burning national issues. Chairman
of the launch, Chief Charles Ifeanyi, said the event was a refreshing one and
described the book as an introspection into some of the salient issues plaguing
society. He used the occasion to address the issue of plagiarism that so easily
besets scholarship and commended the author for coming up with brilliant,
original materials that had already been endorsed by the Department of
Philosophy, University of Lagos as study text.

The book reviewer Prof. Charles Ogbulogo also commented on
the vexed issue of plagiarism, saying it was a worldwide problem that needed
serious attention from relevant authorities across the globe. Ogbulogo also
stated that Ikejezie also made a deliberate attempt to create a friendlier
world and provide alternative challenge to leadership in his novel.

Governor of Anambra State Mr. Peter Obi, who was represented
by his Senior Assistant on Liaison Matters, Lady Ucheoma Ckwudum, urged the
author to also launch TheLearned
in Awka so as to bring the book closer to Anambra people as a way of
encouraging them to read, saying, “It’simportant to bring the launch to Awka to
wake up the zeal of reading in our people in Anambra. This book must be take
home; it’s a serious book”.

Obi tasked the writer and other Anambra people not to avoid
coming home to do things because of kidnapping cases.

Chief launcher, Chief ABC Orjiakor, who was represented by
Sir Emma Onyejelem, said it was ironic that a state whose citizens are known to
express aversion for education was producing some of the modern writers in the
country.

On his part, the author Ikejezie said it took him 10 years
to complete the book, and noted, “We’re all in the process of learning. I’d
like to talk about the author as a thinker, a poet, a critic engaged in
political ideologue. I want to be a full time writer and to produce a good
novel every two years”.

The Learned,
according to Ikejezie, is a play on words to lampoon man’s infinite love for
titles. The Learned is a story of
a woman who has a challenging pregnancy and would need to abort it to save her
life. But her religious faith is against abortion. To overcome it, she and her
husband had to approach a court of law to give a ruling for her to abort.

Telecommunication operator,
Globacom Nigeria Limited, has been commended for emerging lead sponsor of the
Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Making the commendation during the
week was spokesperson for Creative Allaince, Mr. Seun Jegede, who said the
ascendancy in literary creativity in the country needed the support such as the
one The Lumina Foundation, organiser of the prize, brokered with Globacom.

Jegede tasked other corporations in the country to follow
the example of the telecom operator to give the nation’s cultural expressions
needed boost. He noted that in spite of the achievements and numerous awards
Nigerian writers have received over the years to establish Nigeria as a global
leader in culture production, the nation’s writers were still something of
orphans, as local recognitions in terms of financial reward was still low or
even lacking.

Jegede also said Creative Alliance, organisers of the short
story competition Literary Star Search, was also happy that Nigerians had dominated the prize since its
inception since 2005 with four of the five winners being Nigerians. This is in
spite of the fact that the judges usuallycame from five African countries, with only one coming from Nigeria.
This year is on exception, with eight writers already in the longlisted writers
released last week in Lagos.

He therefore tasked the management of Globacom Nigeria
Limited to also extend its ambassadorial roles to Nigerian writers as it was
doing to music and movie stars, arguing that Nigerian writers were better stars
deserving of the lucrative deal that the Globacom ambassadorial role conferred
on those so honoured. Jegede said he based his argument on the fact that outputs
from Nigerian writers had ennobling values for the Nigeria, nay African,
society than most of the trash coming from the music and movie sub-sectors, and
added that the writers still ensured the wholesomeness of Africa’s culture as
against what the music and movies were doing to erode it.

Also, Jegede said the music and movies coming out of the
country were further deepening illiteracy with the bad English being spoken in
most Nollywood films, whereas the
literary workers still ensured standard use of the only lingua franca (English)
for the benefit of readers of the works being produced.

Jegede charged Globacom not to base their selection criteria
only on the razzmatazz of show business but to base it on the lasting values
writers bring to the table in deepening social values, creating a truly
literate generation of Nigerians. Writers, he noted, were grassroots people,
who were also capable of giving mileage to any product. He further stressed
that no society can make progress based on how many showbiz stars it produced
but on the literate young ones it can produce, which he said Nigerian writers
have assiduously done over the years.

He further disclosed that contestants in the Literary
Star Search short story contest would
be in for the best of times when the prize winners are announced next month,
adding that the judges were working hard to sift the grains from the shafts.

Friday last week marked the
opening of the yearly Badagry Festival. Unlike past editions, a new dimension
was added when the usual re-enactment took centre-stage on the first day. This
was after atonement prayers had been offered by Muslims, Christians and
traditional religious leaders in Badagry to appease the souls of fellow
Africans lost during the long years the inhuman Slave Trade trafficking took
place.

Six out of the eight quarters in Badagry participated in a
contest-like event to signify commencement of the festival. Both Awhanjigoh and
Gankoh Quarters re-enacted the meeting points between European powers and
Badagry kings, nay African kings, and the one-sided negotiations that saw
African kings entering into the evil trade of selling their own fellows for
mere trifling like mirrors, bottles of Schnapps, guns and gun-powder and other
articles of European trade.

Explicitly shown was how these African kings marveled at
these ordinary European articles or commodities and were willing to sell their
own people in exchange for them. There were also the baracoon, where the slaves were kept till the slave ships
arrived and the unfortunate souls shipped away to journeys of no return. Not
least re-enacted were the ill-treatment meted out to these human beings now
reduced to mere brutes for the gains of both the local kings and their foreign
trading partners. The baracoon can
still be found at Beokoh and Seriki Abass compounds at the Marina Road,
Badagry.

Equally more dramatically realised was Posukoh Quarter’s
presentation that had the making of a fully realised script. Warriors of an
unknown community led by an Ogun
priest are bathed in ritual essence of fortification so they could go out for
slave raids. Having been so fortified, they set out to unleash mayhem in
markets, farmlands and wherever they chanced upon vulnerable human beings in
their paths. The captured slaves are fed into European slave ships and
transported overseas. Posukoh Quarter got a wild ovation for its performance
when both warriors and slaves took a bow after the show.

Indeed, the retelling of the Slave Trade story through such
graphic re-enactments is what makes Badagry Festival stand out as a sad reminder
one of Africa’s sordid, dark past. With the theme ‘Reconnecting with the Root’,
organisers of the festival, Africa Renaissance Foundation (AREFO), aims to keep
alive a significant historical past and preserve it as a signpost for future
generations.

AREFO president, Mr. Babatunde Olaide-Mesewaku, in his
address stated, “Slave Trade has become part of Africa’s history, its heritage,
our undying memory that must be preserved. What we are doing here today transcends
the history of Badagry and the Slave Trade, but a global phenomenon, which
plagued the entire African continent for over 400 years.

“And just like the Jewish holocaust which was not in matched
proportion with the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, but is uniquely preserved
tangibly and intangibly in museums, history books, in memorial celebrations,
the history of the Slave Trade must also be preserved not only in books but in
memorial celebrations.

“Therefore, Badagry being an important Slave Port, a market
and a trajectory for this obnoxious trade between the 16th and 19th centuries
is being used a as miniature Africa to remember and atone for the peaceful
repose of the souls of Africans who perished either on the land of Africa or
during the horrific voyages to Europe and the Americas or in plantations or in
the hands of their masters as a result of the evil of the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade”.

Olaide-Mesewaku also noted that the festival was not just a
memorial for the evil trade on the continent but also a celebration of Africa’s
freedom and liberation from it, as it took another 45 years after the trade’s
abolition in Europe before Badagry king and his chiefs put a halt to it.

Chairman of Badagry Local Government Council, Mr. Moses
Dosu, praised the untiring efforts of Olaide-Mesewaku’s AREFO in organising
Badagry Festival, saying Slave Trade had become Badagry’s heritage deserving of
being preserved. He charged Badagry people to collaborate and celebrate their
heritage and to make it known to the world. He also appealed to all lovers of patrimony
to come and invest in Badagry so as to tap its huge tourism potentials. He
commended efforts of Lagos State Government in providing infrastructure and
building heritage sites in the ancient slave town such as a world-class golf
course along Badagry beach, Vlekete Slave Market, and Point-of-no-Return.

“Many years ago, many people suffered greatly and died in
agony on this soil,” he said, “The prayers offered today are very well
articulated. I appeal to our people in the Diaspora to come and invest in
tourism in Badagry. Each quarter has been preserving the relics of the Slave
Trade as historical markers of this town.”

Commissioner of Tourism and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Mr.
Disun Holloway, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Ashamu
Fadipe, praised the organisers for building the festival around the history of
Badagry.

He noted, “What AREFO is doing is preserving and promoting
our culture, image and heritage. We should jointly work together to have the
slave sites listed by UNESCO. Badagry is the cradle of development in Nigeria
and Africa. Badagry hosted the first reverend father on September 24, 1842, who
preached under a tree. Lagos State Government has committed a lot of funds in
developing infrastructure in Badagry. When government has finished with its
development plans, Badagry will have more value than Victoria Island and
Lekki”.

Giving a brief lecture at the festival was Mr. Yahaya Ndu,
who said that although there were no more slave chains on the hands of Africans
today, but that chains of the mind still remained to stunt the continent’s
growth. He took leaders like Badagry LGA chairman to task for merely touting
the tourism potentials of Badagry without doing anything to harness such
potential for the benefit of the people. He said time for rhetoric was long
over and that leaders should challenge themselves to act to reduce the
suffering of the people.

Fashion display also formed part of the opening. Local
fashion house, Grace Concept managed by Grace Oladosu, put up a bold and
magnificent show as her untutored models strutted the stage with some creative
pieces that wowed the audience. Boldly African in her rendition, Oladosu’s
clothes made a serious fashion statement to the admiration of all. Some of her
designs were from raffia and mats and her colours were also magnificently
combined.

Not left out was an exhibition of art works – paintings,
sculptures, adire cloths, metal
works – by Society of Badagry Artists. The art exhibition has become an
integral part of Badagry Festival, with pieces that tourists can take away with
them as part of the industry of the people.

Badagry Festival comes to a grand finale on Saturday at the
Badagry Grammar School open ground.

Sunday, 5 August 2012

Ugoma Adegoke and her husband are much traveled individuals, whose establishment, The Life House, for over two years, literally rocked the city of Lagos in the volume and quality of artistic events it hosted. While The Life House has wound up at its first home on 33 Sinari Daranijo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, its activities still continue, with the first in collaboration with Goethe Institut. In this online conversation with ANOTE AJELUOROU, Ugoma, who is also a fashion designer and CEO of Zebra Boutique, states how the house became an extended expression of their own lifestyles, the support they had from friends, the entire Lagos art community and how it impacted on the vibrant Lagos artistic scene. She makes a serious case for support for the arts as a means of properly interrogating the nation’s democracy and nationhood. Excerpts:

Just within two years, The Life House transformed itself into a beehive of artistic feast. How did you manage it?

We did it with a lot of dedication, hard work, dear friends and a very supportive and eager community of artists and patrons. We never imagined that the Lagos community would embrace The Life House so quickly with such passion, but that just goes to show you the need for the promotion of urban art and culture in Lagos. This is a city of incredibly talented people and we are very happy to be a venue, fixed or mobile, that continues to support that talent.

How did the idea come to you in the first place? What inspired you to venture into arts promotion? What is in your background that led into art promotion?

The Life House is essentially how my husband (and my partner and co-founder of The Life House) and I have always lived. Yoga, art, music, travel, healthy foods, community, light and lightness and fashion are our everyday existence. The Life House was a very easy and simple extension of our lives and love to include our community. We knew how we wanted to continue living (having both lived for extensive periods overseas) and decided to experiment with recreating that life in Lagos. It worked and we haven’t looked back. We have always had access to serene, inspiring and functional spaces and we saw no reason to deprive ourselves of same because we relocated to Lagos. So, we created our own for ourselves and for our community.

Promoting art is second nature to me. I am a lover of life, and the beautiful things within it. I drink it all in and as a bonafide alariwo, I always make it a point to announce and shout from the rooftops about the wonderful, fabulous things I see and wish to share with the world starting with my friends, family and anyone who cares to listen. Most people who do listen, often are thankful for the amazing discoveries and experiences we lead them to. It is the best feeling in the whole world.

I am not sure what exactly led to art promotion. I have two economics degrees (both with honours), a professional finance and business work history so I could say nothing in my ‘formal background’ led to this… But I said earlier, this is not work; it is my life, our life and my background includes my education as well as a rich and wild experience of people, places, cultures and food!!! I thank encouraging parents, wonderful Lagos and the timing of my move back to work and live in Nigeria and meeting my dear husband – all these factors evolved my search for life and its essence and morphed it into this beautiful work in art promotion (as you call it) – it is a welcome work, a labour of love: love for nation, community and life.

And, how did you pull off such remarkable programmes all year round?

A strong belief in what my husband loves to buttress, an Open Source style. A combination of ambition, dedicated event planning and programming contributions from friends, and the shared vision of performers, authors, speakers, dancers, artists and countless others to promote the arts and make them accessible to Lagosians. We certainly can’t thank enough all those from the Reel Life Film Club, DaYoga Studio, Zebra Boutique, Abule Cafe and our special friends who pitch in to plan our readings, guest speakers and themed months.

What is your assessment of Nigeria's (nay Lagos) artistic scene? What can be done to improve on it?

I don’t think there is any doubt that the Lagos art scene is rife. It’s capturing it and honing it that needs attention. We like to think of ourselves as an avenue for that refinement. One of our dear members, Chuma Nwokolo, was flattering enough to suggest that in just two short years The Life House had become an institution for artistic development. The momentum, support, packed audiences and demand for performance that we continue to receive is testament to the desire and need for more artistic outlets in Lagos and Nigeria in general.

Apart from featuring/showcasing artists of all shades, do you have plans to be involved in artistic production of any category in the near future?

Indeed I do! These plans will be revealed in due time as I am currently working on several exciting projects.

Whilst all the genres attracted a fair amount of people — I would have to say that the largest audiences usually attended the live music shows. I believe it’s because there is nothing in this world as stimulating as live music! If one prefers a more cerebral approach one would say that, in the human psyche, music and emotions are inextricably mixed. At The Life House the room, literally, pulsates with the beats and the excitement of the audience and when you also consider that our shows are not necessarily mainstream music shows that are readily available but more hard to see artists, the shows are big draws. Music always rocks the house.

Now that you're moving to a new place, what future prospects do you envision?

In our short time, The Life House has become a home away from home for many of our extended Life House family — the place you go where everybody knows your name. I envision that this family will only get bigger. Our new site will encompass many more lifestyle activities for our clients — old, new and future ones!

How much patronage would you say Nigeria's art engenders? Is it patronage-friendly?

Some of Nigeria's museums were world-class institutions. This legacy of much of our art history has unfortunately been sidelined in recent years. But our art is highly patronised by those that are aware — locally and internationally. Nigerian art can cut across socio-economic, cultural and racial boundaries. It can bind and create an understanding between a myriad of people. This is one of the essential reasons why The Life House exists — to encourage people to enjoy the many pleasures of the artworld and understand that this should be a regular part of everyday life — as it was for our past generations.

What impediments are there, if any, to its patronage, especially from corporate Nigeria? What can be done to leverage it?

Enjoying and consuming the arts are viewed as a luxury in a country like Nigeria. People compare the cost of buying a book or seeing a play with the cost of essentials like buying a meal or a bus fare. So, I think the opportunity cost of enjoying the arts is a significant impediment.

In Nigeria, corporate organisations usually invest in initiatives they feel will impact their brand, appeal to their customers and build new customer and followings. I think for a lot of brands, the arts are simply not viewed as an effective vehicle for reaching the public. My view is that Nigerian brands can gain so much mileage from engaging with the arts in a way that embraces large sections of the public, for example through supporting arts education for both adults and children and even facilitating art exchange relationships between Nigeria and other countries.

How focused would you say Nigerian art producers are? Are they business savvy?

At the moment there appears to be a real focus in the production of art, especially in music and film. They appear to have a lot of business-focus, probably because they are the more ‘fast moving’ consumer goods in the arts sector. The visual arts and the performing arts are slightly more challenged. I should note, however, that making the arts more business savvy can be a bit of a ‘catch 22’ situation because if we are commercial in the costing, then attracting people can be difficult and if we are not commercial in the costing, we risk losing livelihoods for the producers of art.

From your experience in the past two years, what do you think can be done to make the art environment more vibrant so that both artists

and promoters like you can be better encouraged?

I think support for the arts is paramount. Support from the public as well as the government where possible. We need a focused and sincere commitment to funding the arts and creating concrete programmes that are well thought-through.

Remember for Tomorrow was a unique programme. What informed it, and would more of such programmes come afterwards?

Remember for Tomorrow was a month-long engagement of cultural, creative and educational activities relating to watershed points in modern history. It arose out of a concern to make our past experiences as a people relevant to our current realities. We felt that it was important to learn from our previous experiences, which may have an impact on how we respond to today’s challenges. It was our intention that Remember for Tomorrow would provide an opportunity for storytelling, education, artistic expression, social discourse and most importantly further documentation of these experiences. We will definitely produce more of these important documentation and education projects in the near future

And, more support for the arts…

A key theme for me is to keep pushing the need to support the arts as a means of cultural expression. Safeguarding our cultural expressions is a way of preserving ourselves and our way of life as a people. In my view, when we are able to do this, we are able to more sincerely interrogate our democracy and nationhood. This is the foundation for true progress and earnest social development…

Thursday, 2 August 2012

Although the Lagos Black
Heritage Festival (LBHF) held some three months ago in April, in which some
children (nine to 12 years old) took part in a visual art competition,
certificates were awarded to the winning pupils and other participants last
week Wednesday in a brief ceremony in Lagos. The event was held at the head
office of Diamond Bank Plc, Lekki, Lagos, the supporting bank for the
competition. It had as theme, ‘Vision of the Child’.

At the function
room of the bank on the sixth floor, children, parents, bank officials and
other art enthusiasts gathered to witness a ceremony that threw up child
artists taking their first steps in creative engagement. The bank’s Group
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Alex Otti, expressed delight
at the children’s performance and duly recognised and welcome them to his
office.

He thanked them
for taking part in the contest, saying, “We took a principled stand to support
LBHF, especially because Prof. Wole Soyinka is part of the festival. We believe
we are a bank of the future; we have programmes and products that support the
future, which belongs to these children, who are our future”.

Otti pledged the
bank’s continuing support for the child art section of LBHF.

Soyinka also
expressed appreciation at the bank’s partnership with the festival and praised
it as a citadel of banking institution. He restated the reason for the festival
to include tracing the history of black people and their cultures, and
enlivening the contemporary history of black people. He stated that the next
festival would have its theme on the black presence in Portuguese culture, just
as this year’s theme was on ‘The Black in the Mediterranean Blue’, with Italy
as focus.

On the theme for
the children’s art competition next year, the Nobel Laureate said it would be
more focused and tighter, in view of this year’s theme that was wide and open.
He then wrote it down, signed it, asked GMD/CEO, Otti to also counter-sign it.
He then sealed the envelop and handed it over to the GMD/CEO to store away in
their bank vaults for safe keeping. He didd not disclose the topic for next
year's competition, saying he did not want the children in attendance to have
undue advantage over their counterparts who might want to be part of the
competition. He assured that the theme would be made known to all at the same
time at a latter date.

Apart from the
customised LBHF laptops the children received, the best six child artists got
cash prices as well for their artistic efforts. Akinola Ibukunoluwa of
Methodist Girls, Yaba, who came first, got N120,000, while Doyinsola Akinwande
of Apostolic Faith, Anthony, came second and got N100,000 cash. Lotanna Nnoli
of Chrisland Schools, VGC came third and got N80,000 cash.

On developing
child talent, Festival Secretary, Foluke Michael said, “We must also encourage,
provide the right environment for children to grow so that we can get the best
from them. Parents should encourage their children to go beyond studying
mathematics and physics, but also develop interest in other subjects; they
should not ignore any talent discovered in their children”.

Nigeria’s pride of place
in Africa’s literary landscape appears confirmed. The country’s leading
position became evident again in Africa’s coveted literary prize, the Wole
Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, worth USD$20,000, as eight Nigerian
writers made the longlist. The Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature was instituted
in honour of black Africa’s first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and
managed by the Dr. Ogochukwu Promise-led The Lumina Foundation.

Nigeria has since inception of the
prize in 2005 won virtually every year, with the exception of 2010, when the
prize produced joint winners – Nigeria’s (Dr. Wale Okediran, with Tenants of
the House and South Africa’s Dr. Kopano Matlwa, with Coconut). In 2008, it was Nigeria’s
Nnedi Okoroafor, with Zarah the Wind Seeker while Sefi Atta won the maiden
edition with her work, Everything Good Will Come. The prize is in its fourth
edition.

Others in the longlist from the rest of
Africa are Kgebetli Moele (The Book of the Dead), Bridget Pit (The
Unseen Leopard),
Sifiso Mzobe (Young Blood), Marie Heese (The Colour of Power), H.J. Golakai (Lazarus
Effect),
Sue Rabie (Fallout)
and Arja Salafranca (The Thin Line). The other candidates are from Liberia, South
Africa, Mali, Uganda, The Gambia nd Kenya.

While announcing the longlist,
chairman, Board of Trustees of The Lumina Foundation, Mrs. Francesca Emanuel,
said the panel of judges for the 2012 edition “are made up of distinguished
intellectuals from South Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and South
Africa”, and said they were already working hard to have a shortlist of authors
announced later this month. The prize will be given early September.

To chair the high profile award dinner
in September will be former Ghanaian President, Mr. John Kufour; he will also
deliver the keynote address. Governors of Ogun and Lagos States, Sen. Ibikunle
Amosun and Mr. Raji Fashola, will also be in attendance.

A total of 402 writers applied for this
year’s edition from 26 African countries as against 336 in 2010 in the biennial
award. The prize is managed by the Dr. Ogochukwu Promise-led The Lumina
Foundation, a foundation at the forefront of promoting literature, books and
reading.

Emanuel said the goals and aims behind
the institution of the prize include propagating the dynamics of self
enhancement, celebrating excellence, patriotism, integrity, heroism,
intellectualism and selfless service epitomized by the man, Wole Soyinka,
generating excellent books (both in content and packaging) authored by
Africans, fostering global harmony through the provision of opportunities for
appreciation of cross cultural perspectives, extensively promote the authors
and their works, according them the recognition they deserve among renowned
authors across the world.

Others are to celebrate awesome
creative pieces in all their cerebral grace, liberating qualities, the honour
and recognition they bring to a myriad of people, of diverse cultures and
languages, providing informative entertainment and create avenues for literary
performances, making the winning works and shortlisted works available and
affordable, and generally improving the reading culture and the quality of the
books we read.

A major feature for this
fourth edition is the coming on board of telecommunication company, Globacom
Nigeria Limited, as major sponsor of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in
Africa. Globacom’s gesture towards the core arts through this sponsorship is a
departure from what has come to be regarded as a corporate social
responsibility-given, where corporations in Globacom’s rating focus only on the
showy, flashy side of the creative industry, especially Nigeria’s music and
movie, otherwise known as Nollywood, sections of the art that have caused much
blushes in their portraiture of Africa’s core values.

Director, Events and Sponsorship for
the telecom company, Mr. Bode Opeseitan, had remarked that Globacom was
delighted to be part of the Syinka prize, “Which seeks to encourage capacity
building in literary works, especially within the African continent. Our
involvement in this project is a further demonstration of our commitment to
giving value to our subscribers as well as contributing to the intellectual
development of the communities where we operate”.

He commended the giant strides The
Lumina Foundation had made since instituting the prize, and stressed that the
partnership with the Soyinka prize “is therefore geared towards providing
informative entertainment and create avenues for literary performances, in
addition to improving the reading culture and the quality of the books produced
across Africa.

“We believe that successful partnership
between the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and Globacom will see
the emergence of more Soyinkas and others in the nearest future, thus
fulfilling the objective of the project, which is to discover, recognize and reward
the best literary works produced by Africans”.

On the partnership with Globacom,
Emanuel enthused that the company’s support “admirably demonstrates corporate
citizenship, a Nigerian ethos and an African outlook. Together, in appreciating
the authors, we appreciate ourselves better as Africans.

“In exploring the themes, issues and
topics raised by these artists, we ennoble and educate ourselves, and make
ourselves better heard. Together, we can continue to uphold the essential goals
of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa: African Voices, African
Views, for African Issues”.

Also, a major shift in the prize format
will be its rotation amongst the genres from 2014, with prose fiction (full
length novel or collection of short stories by a single author). Thereafter,
drama will take its turn in 2016, poetry in 2018 and essays (on political and
human right issues) in 2020.

Also responding to the new partnership
between the Soyinka prize and the telecom company was journalist, culture
activist and writer, Mr. Ben Tomoloju, who referred to Soyinka as his mentor.
He commended the synergy between the two in celebrating Africa’s literary icon,
Soyinka, whom he said embodies professional excellence. He also commended the
company for the promotion of “our collective vision as a people”.

He noted that writers had been
concerned about the distress of literature tradition from the 1980s, and said a
lot of razzmatazz accompanied other art forms like music and movies, while
literature was often left out of sponsorship radar. Tomoloju further added that
even Nollywood stood to benefit from a virile literary tradition that had
active corporate support so as to develop the sloppy scripts from the movie
industry, declaring that developing good literature amounted to developing good
society.

On her part, CEO, The Lumina
Foundation, Dr. Ogochukwu Promise, was full of gratitude for the partnership
with Globacom, saying, “When we approached Globacom for the sponsorship of this
prestigious prize, they matched our enthusiasm with uncommon zeal, bringing
with them their intent on recognising excellence, celebrating our rich African
valuesand promoting ideas
that nurture talents, artistic grace and foster world peace.

“For not hesitating to partner with us
in making the 2012 edition of Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, for
being generous and efficient, we thank you immensely. I know that together we
shall take this Prize to greater heights”.

Promise stated that the 15 novels would
be actively promoted in a reading session every Tuesday at 4pm at 19 University
of Lagos Road, Akoka, Lagos. The initiative is designed to endear the works to
the public before the award proper in September.

She also expressed gratitude to other
sponsors like Macmillan Nigerian Publishers, Zenith, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Tanus
Books, Bookcraft and Oracle Books that had been with the prize from inception.